Chapter 60: Famous Now: This is outrageous! Someone must have leaked the exam questions!
The second day of the spring imperial examination.
Squads of soldiers, dressed in black armor, patrolled solemnly inside and outside the high walls of the examination hall, while others watched from the high watchtowers on both sides. To prevent cheating, the area within several hundred paces of the examination hall was fenced off and under strict security after the start of the exam, prohibiting anyone from approaching.
Inside the examination hall, the atmosphere was as somber as you could hear a pin drop. Students hunched over their desks, countless pens scratching across the paper. Most of the examinees had furrowed brows and sweat beading on their foreheads, as they racked their brains to find new ways to interpret the difficult classical texts and policy essays on their exam papers.
The imposing walls isolated the world outside, but could not stop messages from seeping out.
The exam questions from the previous day were released immediately after the exam had just finished.
The news spread quickly throughout Bianjing (Kaifeng).
Private schools and government schools all copied down the exam questions and eagerly circulated them for study, also making sure their students preparing for the next exam did the same.
The younger students at the Imperial Academy, or those unsure of their chances of passing the exam, had obtained the exam questions copied by their mischievous classmates who had scaled the wall. Now they were all gathered in the Zhixingzhai Hall, examining the questions one by one. Among them were quite a few who had taken Yao Ruyi's "Three or Five" exams. Some looked at them and felt they were familiar, but couldn't quite place them.
Those with good memories jumped to their feet and practically tumbled to the bookcase, rummaging through it frantically until they pulled out their own three or five books. They flipped to a certain page, looked closely, and sure enough, there they were!
His breath caught in his throat, his hands trembled, and after glancing at his classmates in the Zhixingzhai study who were still unaware of the reason, his chest heaved for a long time before he finally roared:
"We got it! This year's questions! We predicted them correctly!"
When the Zhixingzhai suddenly erupted in excitement, many of the Imperial Academy's lecturers on duty that day also noticed the incident in the Imperial Academy's official residence.
On their desks, there was usually a copy of "Sanwu" (a famous Chinese novel).
After all, as soon as the book went on sale, many students eagerly sought its guidance from their teachers, which piqued their interest as well. Many bought it to read or even tried writing it themselves.
Upon first reading, the scholars of the Imperial Academy were divided into two factions regarding this book, arguing endlessly about the "Three or Five" points. They had already debated five or six times in the Taoranting Pavilion of the Imperial Academy about whether the "Three or Five" points were good or bad. Most of the younger scholars thought the book was good and that it would be more beneficial than harmful for students to read it.
The older PhDs, apart from Dr. Yao and Dr. Jiang who personally wrote the book, all criticized it with a mix of sour grapes and genuine concern, saying that it was not only useless but would also corrupt students!
But Dr. Zou, the chief lecturer at Dingzihao Academy, highly praised this "three-five".
Dr. Zou is very young, just over thirty years old.
Three years ago, he was selected from the Ministry of Revenue to teach at the Imperial Academy. Upon arrival, he became the chief lecturer of the Dingzi Academy. As a new teacher, he had to manage thirty or forty teenagers, which made him very uneasy. Therefore, he devoted himself to all his students and was very strict in their studies.
Most of the other doctoral students would go home after their shifts, but Dr. Zou would ride his little donkey back to the South Dormitory under the cover of darkness after dinner to check if anyone had sneaked out to seek pleasure or indulge in feasting. If he found any students missing, he would storm into the brothel and drag them back to the theater.
Therefore, as soon as these "three or five" appeared in the Dingzi Study, they were discovered by Dr. Zou, who was squinting, sticking out his buttocks, and peeking at the students from the back door.
He was so angry that he pulled out his bamboo whip from his waist because he thought these scoundrels were about to take the imperial examinations and were still reading those erotic novels. But when he came in, he saw that they were talking nonsense about becoming a Jinshi in three years and a Zhuangyuan in five years. Were they dreaming?
Upon closer inspection, his interest was piqued, and he immediately borrowed the book to read. He then realized the book's merits and read it all night without closing his eyes.
This book progresses from simple to complex, with clear organization, moving from theoretical concepts to practical applications, and is truly well-structured.
Although the book had a hint of opportunism... Dr. Zou quickly discerned its true nature. To put it bluntly, it no longer followed the traditional method of reading, which required students to thoroughly memorize every word of the Four Books and Five Classics, nor did it force them to painstakingly comprehend the profound meaning of the sages word by word like a donkey pulling a millstone. Instead, it focused most of the effort on memorizing important passages, figuring out answering techniques, and becoming familiar with the formulaic writing styles for exams.
If students use this book, those who lack mental strength and focus may easily become people who only seek the "correct answer" without deeply pondering the principles of the sages. Their reading may then easily become a boring test-taking exercise, relying on repeated practice of questions and rote memorization to win, rather than for understanding and wisdom.
This is also why the older PhDs scoff at it. In their view, this isn't studying; it's just about aiming for high scores in the imperial examinations! It's a crooked path, a cunning trick, and driven by greed!
How can reading be done like this? It's absolutely harmful.
Dr. Zou disagreed. He didn't voice some of his thoughts, but he wondered, in this day and age, does anyone truly study for the sake of studying? Who doesn't study to achieve academic success? Who doesn't study to one day rise above others? Call him greedy, call him a promoter of unhealthy trends, but he genuinely believed that whatever it might do, if it could help students improve in the final thirty days and achieve success, he would accept it even if it was like forcing growth!
Many senior doctors slammed their fists on the table in anger, forbidding their students from reading such books again, saying that these three or five books were a disgrace to the sages! They even formed cliques in the Imperial Academy over this matter, making a huge fuss. Many young doctors did not dare to disobey, and although they did not ask their students to ban the book, they silently complied and dared not promote it anymore.
Dr. Zou insisted that each of his students buy a copy to read. If there were students in the academy who were poor, he would buy them copies out of his own pocket. Based on the practice questions in the book, he also racked his brains and created several more practice papers for his students to do.
He has always believed that education should be tailored to individual students.
If a young student has not yet memorized the Four Books and Five Classics, and whose foundation is not yet solid, he does not advocate reading this book. However, for his students who have studied diligently for more than ten years and are about to take the exam, they have already mastered the Four Books and Five Classics and have already laid a solid foundation. Now they need this kind of intense tempering and study with a clear purpose. There is nothing else but to pass the exam!
Then you must read it carefully and thoroughly, thoroughly understand the questions in the book, and memorize them!
In particular, most of the students in the Bing and Ding schools, with the exception of Lu Fang, came from humble backgrounds and were minor officials. They were not the sons of high-ranking officials in the Jia and Yi schools, nor were they the sons of aristocratic families with a long tradition of scholarship or wealthy merchants with mountains of gold and silver in the Biyong Academy.
Like Liu Huaiyan in his study, his family had been butchers for three generations. It was his great-grandfather who earned the family fortune by butchering pigs and bought his grandfather a minor official position, which led his family to embark on the path of studying and taking up official posts. It was because his uncle passed the imperial examination at the age of forty and suddenly became a successful candidate in the provincial examination, thus obtaining a minor official position, that he was chosen by his uncle because he was "the most intelligent in the family" and entered the Imperial Academy to study.
Three generations of their family worked together with one heart and one mind, risking their lives, to raise Liu Huaiyan, so that he could sit in the Imperial Academy and study with other sons of officials who could easily obtain the same opportunity.
Dr. Zou, who also came from a poor family, knew all too well that while those old doctors talked about benevolence and righteousness and how noble studying was, for children from poor families, making a name for themselves in the imperial examinations was as difficult as climbing to the sky, but it was their only way out, and they had no other choice.
This book, "Sanwu," merely split the path that belonged exclusively to the powerful and wealthy into two, offering a meager glimmer of hope to ordinary people.
So, when Dr. Zou discovered that he had predicted the exam question, he felt a surge of excitement rush to his head! He could no longer contain himself, and suddenly stood up, clutching the "Three-Five" notebook in his hand, which was already tattered from repeated annotations and answers to students' questions, and roared out loud!
He completely ignored the astonished stares of the other PhD students around him; his eyes shone with an astonishing light, as if two raging flames were burning within them.
He was a hundred times more ecstatic than the students in the exam hall!
Once his lips parted in a wide grin, they were hard to close again. Dr. Zou threw his head back and burst into a loud laugh. Clutching the tattered book, he stumbled and staggered out the door, seemingly insane!
He was the youngest lecturer among all the doctors in the Imperial Academy, and the students in the Ding-character study group were his first group of students before he became an official and teacher. He poured all his heart and soul and all his knowledge into the students, and his expectations for them were even greater than those for the students themselves. Before the spring examination, he was the only doctor in the Imperial Academy who meticulously hand-copied all the mock exam questions from the "Three-Five" syllabus, and he also summoned all the students in the Ding-character study group who were going to take the exam.
While the other students were gradually relaxing, he continued to lead them through one classroom test after another. He paid even closer attention to those who ranked lower on the annual and ten-day exam lists.
Many senior scholars ridiculed him, and even Zhu Bing of the Bingzi Academy publicly mocked his behavior, saying, "This book is nothing more than a compilation by two senior scholars with the help of an outsider. It is neither officially published nor written by a great Confucian scholar. What is the point of you making such a fuss about your students? Your Dingzi Academy is just like my Bingzi Academy. Apart from Lu Fang, everyone here is from a poor family. Some of your students even have ancestors who slaughtered pigs. What can you possibly do in just thirty days? You, a scholar, are leading the way in 'clutching at Buddha's feet'? How ridiculous! Besides, open your eyes and see if what you're clinging to is truly Buddha's feet or just donkey feet!"
This caused everyone to burst into laughter.
Dr. Zou silently accepted all of this. He didn't think he had done anything wrong. He was also a veteran of the imperial examinations, and he believed his judgment was sound. How could the quality of a book be judged based on the compiler's background? Regardless, he continued to watch his students do practice problems and collect assignments before dawn every day, and stayed up late every night to review them. Day after day, for more than a month, he became thin and frail, and his young hair turned quite gray.
But that's how he was. Together with the students of Dingzi Academy, he painstakingly studied the "Sanwu" book from beginning to end two or three times! He even created his own exam questions inspired by the book. Every question, every solution, and every important entry was thoroughly analyzed and digested by his students.
Even on the eve of the imperial examination, when the students of the other schools had already relaxed and rested, he still kept the students of the "Ding" class inside the school, forbidding them from going out to wander around and drink.
In the dim light, he stood before the hall, addressing his disciples who were about to go into battle, and spoke his final words, beginning with a bitter smile:
Do you hate me?
"Are you still cursing me in your heart right now? It's one thing to be so strict on ordinary days, but this 'skinny Zou' won't even let you loose on the last day? How despicable! Isn't that right?"
The students lowered their heads in embarrassment, and the nicknames they had secretly given each other even reached the teacher's ears.
Dr. Zou, however, was not angry and continued:
"You will be taking the exam early tomorrow morning. I'm afraid you might get drunk and have a splitting headache, forgetting everything you've read and done! I'm even more afraid that your fighting spirit will dissipate! Ten years of hard study, years of diligent reading, I've stood shoulder to shoulder with you for three years, those are thousands of days and nights... Now, you are finally going to take the exam."
"It's the last day, and I don't know if I'll ever see you all again. Today, I'll speak frankly to you all. When I first entered the Imperial Academy and met you all, I was filled with guilt and trepidation."
Since I am not as strict as those senior PhDs who have been teaching for decades, I have to be more demanding of you. I just want to teach you everything I know and have learned, no matter what.
Just like you, I have no illustrious family background, no powerful relatives to protect me, and no vast wealth. Like you, I passed the imperial examination with only a burning desire to succeed and a spirit of perseverance. I do not wish to ruin your future because of me.
Today, I can say with a clear conscience that I have done my best for you all over the past three years! I also firmly believe that when you look back in the future, you will not regret the hardships you have endured, because we have all done our utmost.
"Though the mountains are difficult to cross, one can surely reach the destination if one keeps walking! The master is here..."
"We await your triumphant return."
Before he could finish speaking, he was surrounded by countless students who rushed up to him. He and his students had cried together before the imperial examination, but today, he was going to have a good cry!
Because he knew that others might forget the problems they had solved, but his students would never forget them! They did a problem three times as many times as others did it once! The effort they poured into it far exceeded that of others!
Even though only one question was predicted correctly, isn't that a great start? How many rankings can this one question affect? Countless students who have studied hard for years may fail or succeed in the exam just because of this one question!
After Dr. Zou burst into tears and laughter as he rushed out of the Imperial College, the news spread like wildfire throughout the college.
Outside Yao's General Store.
The sun had climbed halfway up the wall, and it was midday. The alley, which had been bustling just moments before, had become quiet again, except for the few parrots of the Yu family chirping and squabbling under the eaves.
Because it was the day of the scientific expedition, business in the alley was slow, so Yao Ruyi simply closed the general store and let everyone in the family take a nap. No one was left to watch the store today.
Yao Ruyi was sleeping soundly when he dreamed that he and Lin Wen'an were hiding deep inside the shelves. He was about to bend down when he heard the door being pounded loudly, bang bang bang!
She woke up from her dream with a start, feeling both regretful and groggy. She quickly changed her clothes, got up, and shuffled to the door. The moment the latch was pulled open, a force rushed in, nearly knocking her to the ground. Looking closely, she saw the steps outside crowded with neighbors, familiar faces pressed close together, their pupils gleaming green, staring intently at her.
Yao Ruyi was instantly jolted awake. What was going on? Was this an attack on Bright Peak?
Before she could speak, Aunt Ying rushed forward and wrapped her arms tightly around her, so tightly that Yao Ruyi's vision blurred. Aunt Ying exclaimed joyfully, "Ruyi, you're truly a hero to our alley! It's your book! Your book helped our students at the Imperial Academy predict yesterday's Confucian classics exam questions! The very first question! The very first question was from your book!"
Yao Ruyi was being strangled to death. For a moment, she only caught the words "predicted the exam" and "exam questions." Her muddled mind gradually cleared, and a flicker of unbelievable joy made her eyes widen in surprise.
"real?"
"Absolutely true! Absolutely true!" the crowd echoed, their laughter ringing out. "Amazing! Absolutely amazing!"
"Haha, at least they won't get this question wrong! We've at least a third of the way to victory!"
"Come on, come on, let's go to our house for a drink with our aunts, uncles, and cousins! Let's have some fun!"
Yao Ruyi had no way to refuse and was quickly taken away by her overly excited neighbors. The imperial examination was not even over yet, and they were already shouting that they must have a big celebration that night, just as if they had heard that Sister You was on her way home.
Master Meng squeezed into the crowd, his face beaming with pride, patting his chest loudly: "None of you are allowed to compete with me! Come to my house today! There will be plenty of food and wine! Especially thank you, Madam Cheng and Madam Yao! Neither of you will escape!"
Ruyi is the chief editor of the book, so we must thank her. As for Madam Cheng, it's because Cheng Da has been taking Lin Da and his son Meng Boyuan to do exercises and read books every day. Although Master Meng is a little worried about whether Meng Boyuan can remember the questions he's done, he comforts himself: doing something is better than not doing it at all, right? Since he's done it, surely he can remember everything, right?
Master Meng had already given up hope for his son's success in the imperial examinations. In recent days, he had secretly watched his son countless times from the tea room of Zhixingzhai. He had glimpsed many aspects of Meng Boyuan's life outside of studying. The boy was quite righteous. He would carry a classmate with a stomachache to run errands to find a doctor. He would also bring meat to a classmate in the abject vegetarian diet who lived a poor life. He would even rush over to mediate when Wangwang and Tiebaojin got into a fight. He could also patiently persuade a baring, howling cat or dog for a quarter of an hour.
This made Master Meng stop mentioning studying for a long time. Anyway, whether he studied or not, it would only take a few days. If he passed the exam, it wouldn't make a difference of a few days, and if he failed, he wouldn't be able to catch up anyway.
If he doesn't pass the exam, so be it. He can always come back and inherit the family business... Although he hasn't been able to reconcile with his son yet, Master Meng has been sleeping more soundly these past few days, and he has accepted his fate.
Hearing this today, there might still be a glimmer of hope, and that dormant flame has been rekindled!
It would be best if I could pass the exam!
Yao Ruyi was pulled away by the overly excited neighbors and didn't even have time to turn around and say goodbye to Grandpa Yao, who came out rubbing his eyes after hearing the knocking. Luckily, Tie Baojin, who was standing at his feet, saw him and stood up and barked loudly several times.
The barking of the dog alerted Uncle Cong, who hurriedly came out from the side gate.
She quickly added, "Uncle Cong, I won't be back for dinner!"
Uncle Cong, still half asleep with his hair and beard disheveled, watched as Yao Ruyi was dragged away by the neighbors. He shook his head, pondered, and returned to the kitchen. He lifted the gauze on the table, looked down at the dough rising, and thought: "Since the young lady and Erlang aren't home, today the servants and Dr. Yao can just have some noodle soup. We can use the extra dough to make some meat buns, two for each person, and the cats and dogs can have some too."
Lin Wen'an was on duty today and went to the yamen early. Later, before noon, he sent Lin Sanlang back to say that the emperor had summoned him and he would not be coming back for lunch.
Uncle Cong sighed, "Why is everyone so busy?"
Coincidentally, Lin Wen'an also met with the emperor at the Chuigong Hall because of this "three-five" matter.
This morning, while the Imperial College was overjoyed and eager to celebrate, the Biyong Academy had also learned of the news. Inside the duty room, several doctors sat around with grim faces, the air thick with tension.
On the desk, a copy of "Three Years to Pass the Imperial Examination, Five Years to Become the Top Scholar," which they had somehow acquired, was crumpled beyond recognition. The elderly scholar at the head of the group trembled slightly, his fist clenched tightly beneath his sleeves, his knuckles turning white, and he growled through clenched teeth, "This is outrageous! Someone must have leaked the exam questions!"
"This is cheating!"
"That's so unfair!"
"Let's go! We'll go and seek an audience with the Emperor!"
It was not yet noon. Although he was on duty at the Ordnance Bureau, Lin Wen'an was unusually not handling official business. Instead, he cut up the letter paper, tore up the family letter he had written before, and rewrote it.
Just after sealing the letter and instructing Lin Silang to go out and make a trip, giving him several strings of cash and telling him to send it back to Fuzhou via an express courier, he received news that he had been summoned by the emperor.
Inside the Chuigong Hall, the Emperor, who had been unexpectedly summoned despite it not being a day of court assembly, sat behind his desk with a displeased expression, clutching several impeachment memorials in his hand, staring expressionlessly at the several elderly scholars in front of him who were so angry that their hair stood on end and they were covered in sweat.
They stood with their backs bent, their shoulders and backs tense beneath their wide robes.
After the group of scholars from Biyong Academy entered, Zhao Boyun finished reading the memorial and casually flipped through the book "Three Years to Jinshi, Five Years to Keju" that the old scholars had brought. He then said only one sentence to Liang Dang: "Go and call Mingzhi over, let's listen to it together."
He didn't say another word after that.
The hall was eerily quiet, with only the dripping of the water clock, its rhythmic patter seeming to strike at one's heart.
When Lin Wen'an stepped in unhurriedly, there was already an atmosphere of impending storm in the hall.
"Your Majesty," one of the elderly scholars finally couldn't contain his anger any longer, his voice filled with suppressed fury, "the fact that hundreds of students from the Imperial Academy were able to accurately predict the exam questions for this year's spring examination is suspicious! We... are worried that there might be a leak of the exam questions!"
As he spoke, he glanced at Lin Wen'an, who had just entered the hall, and his tone became even more indignant: "We...we are extremely worried! We beg Your Majesty to thoroughly investigate this matter and not to encourage such evil practices..."
Upon seeing Lin Wen'an enter, before he could even bow, Zhao Boyun impatiently waved him up and ordered someone to offer him a seat. Only then, as if unable to bear it any longer, did he raise his eyelids, his gaze sweeping indifferently over the steps below. His voice was not loud, but each word was clear, carrying a mocking tone: "Leaking the exam questions?"
He paused, his tone even more dismissive of someone looking at a fool, "If I remember correctly, this year's imperial examination questions were set by two officials from the Ministry of Revenue, three doctors from the Biyong Academy, and two questions were set by me. The people who set the questions haven't been home for the New Year since March, they've been locked up in the examination hall and haven't come out. So... do you mean that your Biyong Academy doctors went to the trouble of leaking the questions to the students of the Imperial Academy, but not to leak them to the students of your own academy?"
A deathly silence fell over the steps. The heads of the several PhDs drooped even lower, their faces suddenly turning purple.
Zhao Boyun's gaze swept over them, and he slowly said, "Furthermore... in previous years, during the spring imperial examinations, it wasn't uncommon for students from Biyong Academy to accidentally guess the exam questions correctly. Oh, could it be that back then, someone else leaked the questions to you?"
The question landed like a heavy hammer.
Lin Wen'an then roughly understood what was going on and why Zhao Boyun had summoned him. Without waiting for Zhao Boyun to elaborate, he calmly rose and explained in a flat tone, "Your Majesty, when I was compiling this book, I did indeed review all the examination questions from the past eight years. I discovered that the preferences of the questions set by officials from the Imperial Academy, the Biyong Academy, and the Ministry of Revenue were all traceable—most of them selected sentences from specific classical texts, and the question types were also frequently repeated. I merely formulated the questions according to this pattern. My intention was not to predict the questions, but rather to ensure that the students who read this book could thoroughly understand all such questions."
He paused, his gaze frank: "Therefore, I did not design only one question in this book. Since you gentlemen have brought this book, you must have read it. There is more than one question similar to this year's imperial examination question. If I remember correctly, I have compiled about fifty similar questions in the book for students to practice. The scope is wide and the number is large. It is only by chance that I was able to answer one of them this time."
He then turned to the several elderly doctors whose faces were ashen, his voice still calm: "If there is anyone to blame, it is only that the exam questions failed to innovate. Year after year, they were the same old questions with little change. Anyone could easily calculate them. Moreover, I am probably not the only one who can see the tricks of the trade. It's just that this year, a large number of students from the Imperial Academy happened to be on the wrong track, which caused such a huge uproar."
The old doctor's throat bobbed, his lips moved a few times, but he ultimately couldn't utter another word. The sound of the water clock at the corner of the hall sounded particularly jarring at this moment. As time gradually passed, the afternoon sun cast silent shadows on the indignant doctors who had come down the steps.
Having said all that, what else could Zhao Boyun not understand? It was simply that these incompetent old fogies were setting inflexible questions, rehashing the same old ideas year after year, until their methods had been figured out! A nameless rage surged within him. He was so angry he wanted to throw something at them, but he couldn't bear to throw the imperial seal, nor could he bear to part with the writing brush and paperweight. So he slammed his fist on the imperial desk and roared, "A bunch of incompetent, inflexible fools! How dare you come before me to complain?! All of you, get back to your posts and reflect on your mistakes!"
The old doctors slunk away. Lin Wen'an was about to leave as well, but Zhao Boyun beckoned him over with interest. Zhao Boyun picked up his Ru porcelain teacup with ducks playing in the water and sipped his tea, saying, "So all those times you came to bother me with this and that were all for this? Back then, when I asked you to copy my homework, you were too lazy to even lift a pen. Now you've compiled a book. Something's definitely up. Tell me the truth!"
After a pause, Zhao Boyun thought of another possibility and said in shock, "You don't mean to use this to ask me to reinstate Dr. Yao to his original post, do you? Let me tell you, it's impossible! When he was an official, he would write more than thirty memorials to me every day, and he even had to tell me about my favoritism towards Consort Zhang. He would drive me crazy!"
Lin Wen'an remained silent for a while, thinking of Ruyi and the kiss behind the shelf the night before. It seemed there was nothing to hide, so he said, "It's not for you, sir."
Zhao Boyun breathed a sigh of relief and quickly lowered his head to take another sip of tea.
Before he could swallow, Lin Wen'an seemed to be recalling something he didn't understand, and said:
"Perhaps... I am about to get married."
Zhao Boyun choked on his tea, nearly spitting it out unceremoniously.
What does "maybe" mean?
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Happy Children's Day, everyone! [Sprinkling flowers]
Did you go out to play today? [pats head]
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